SI Update 2

90 minutes to go. Definitely not much sitting around. Lots of hearding and wandering. Sadly, no time for the paper.

Off to go find more water and some preemptive Tylenol before checking my bag and committing to this thing!

So far, the guy in footed yellow duckie PJs has amused me most.

Ferry

Had my last proper bathroom break at the ferry terminal. From here on out, it’s port-a-John central. Ah… The aroma.

Lots of italians here today. I am very out of practice. Can’t understand a lot, but let’s hope their exhuberance rubs off.

Ooh! Ferry pulling out!

Marathon morning report

Up at 4:30 am. Paper is already here which will help in the 3 hour wait. Think I have everything ready and it’s looking to be a warmer than expected day. Good for the wait- and my cooshy $6 Target sweatshirt might actually be too warm.

Hour by hour reports of my “waiting on Staten Island experience” coming soon. You can all read it when you actually wake up

Lessons from a 12-miler

Had a 12 mile long run on Saturday and took advantage of one of the organized long runs in the park. Made for a 5am morning, but is totally worth it to have the resources available.

It went really well! Much, much better than the 11 miles we had done a few weeks before. Last time we ran, we opted for the 10 min/mile group, but were with a pace leader who ran at 9:30. This made for a marvelous first 6 miles and a miserable final 5.

This time, we ran with a 10:30 pace group which was a much better decision. Not only is it more like the pace we are actually running these days, but we had great coaches who stayed right on the money. We each had a mile + at a faster pace (faster than 9:30) when playing catch up after a pit-stop, but otherwise was the perfect pace. Ended up finishing in just over 2 hours and felt great. Though, to quote Eldar, “it feels awesome to not be running right now!”

Lessons:
1) Im not as fast or strong as I was in 2007, but I actually feel better (in general) now, than I did in 2007. It’s been hard for me to let go of the standard I set for myself in 2007 (in fact, I have not let it go, but I am trying). The pace I ran, what my body looked like, etc. But, I had control issues in my life back then and lived (and ate) accordingly. Now that I am a freer person, it shows in my running. Im slower now because I don’t train as hard and I actually eat better. It makes me slower, but I recover much faster and don’t feel as exhausted all the time. The trade off should be obvious (well being for fast race times), but it is still hard for me not to calculate a half marathon at 9:30 pace and set a goal of breaking 2 hours. Maybe someday when Im not training for a marathon and can really push for that half marathon time. But one run at a time. And I’ll take the happiness any day.

2) Train for the worst case scenario. This was the advice of one of the pace coaches. Chatted with her for a bit after she called me out for running outside of the recreation lane in the park… “Pink shirt!” Her advice was to train for the worst case scenario. Meaning – if you plan to run somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00 half marathon, train for the 5 hours. It could be raining, 98 degrees, 100% humidity or you just might feel like ass. If you are trained to stay on your feet for 5 hours, it will be easier. You’ll be able to give up the dream of the 4:40 time and give yourself the extra time. And your body will be prepared to stay upright and running for that long. So…train slow. And, when it turns out to be a great day after all…you’ll be able to keep up that quicker pace (which is what the shorter, interval training runs are for.

Next up: it’s a taper week to prep for the half marathon in less than 2 weeks. 2 nice runs this week (one interval, one flat mileage) and an 8 miler this weekend.

Behind

I am grossly behind in my postings, but just a note to say that I haven’t disappeared. I am lazy about posting these days, what with a commute home on Tuesdays or a million things to do post-run on the other days.

But, I will strive for more consistency. These posts help me remember what Ive been through in my runs and be proud of what I have accomplished!

My slackage reminds me that in general, I am striving to bring the discipline back into my life. I have turned into a giant lazy slob in all aspects of my life. Slight exaggeration, obviously, but I am not the proactive achiever that I once was.

But, one of these days I’ll get back on it.

In other news…new sports bras!! Say bye-bye to the “permanently smelly and so stiff they can remain upright on their own” variety. Niiiiice.

Pyramid

I like to name my side stiches the way I name my blisters. I’d like to introduce you to Louie Left Stitch and Reba Right Stitch. Sally Shoulder Cramp was also in attendance this evening. Good times getting used to the heat. This being the first day of actual summer-like weather (miracle).

Overheard before class: Some chick called Shelly “that lady with the bushy hair”. Haha. As if. Umm….sweetie…that’s Shelly. SHELLY. I don’t know why, but that really tickled me.

Workout: Pyramid intervals. 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1 mile plus warm up and cool down of 1.4 miles each (total milage – 4.86, but see note about GPS watch below). For the Advance group, they had to do an extra 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile intervals. Eek. Sometimes it’s good to not be in the fast group.

Very good workout. According to my watch, we did the warmup at 8:15 pace. Nice one, Shelly. No idea about time for the 1/4 (of which the recovery felt exactly the same as the interval). 4:48 for the 1/2 mile. 10:37 for the mile (minus 1 minute off the time to account for the insane hill course).

Buckets of sweat. Swoob, swack, swass, swace, you name it.

I miss working so hard to keep breathing that I don’t close my mouth and drool on myself. Awesome.

Note about GPS watch. Coaches say the warmup we did tonight (school to 99th street) is 1.25 miles. However, my watch said 1.43 miles. Laurel says her dad’s watch freaks out in Central Park, too. Must run a measured area that I know well to compare the watch readings. Another question is the pace readings. Is it the pace Im running right at that moment or an average of my pace for all of the mileage I have run. Over about 1/8 mile length, I read my pace 3 times and it was all over the place (and before you ask – I was running steady). I also need to figure out how to program intervals into my watch. And also how to just start the timer to record time/mileage without setting up a workout first. Or rather…I need to get Eldar to figure out all of this stuff for me

P.S. Laurel – Saw Paula tonight. I would have given her the evil eye if I hadn’t been using all my physical resources to not have a heart attack after that damn hill. But good news – it’s officially summer in the city. And you know what that means!

And a $10 cab ride and 30 min train ride and 6 min car ride later I was home. Nite!

Pacing

3 1-mile intervals
9:10
9:20
9:08

Ran with the 10/10:30 group today. Was a great workout! I miss just running. Don’t have to plan a route or set the pace. I just have to keep up. Which isn’t always easy, but I just do NOT work that hard when Im on my own.

Lesson for today was pacing. The idea being that if you want to run 3 miles at a 10 minute pace, you won’t run each mile in 10 minutes. But the average will equal 10 minutes. Because you will run slower uphill.

Typically, I can maintain my same pace while running uphill. Then I tend to use the downhill as a recovery and go a bit slower. I have said before how I LOVE passing people going uphill and people who sprint downhill really annoy me. This is, apparently, bass-ackwards from what I should be doing.

But, if I start slowing down when I go uphill, Im afraid I will crap out altogether and have to walk. Which is just not acceptable.

So..I will be a rebel and go against the grain on this one. Or maybe I will be a convert by the end of the session. Stay tuned.

6 miler – Take 2

Ran in Atlanta today.

I love running in new places. It usually makes the run much less painful. Familiar trails are great, too. But, after that craptacular run from last week, I needed to do my 6 miler in a different place.

Plus, we got to come home and jump in the pool. Marvelous!

Along the way, we ran through the parking lot of a Baptist Church. Or rather…Baptist Compound. I keep forgetting that everyone in the south smokes and goes to church on Sunday. Though, the size of this church was a little bit scary. NEVER seen so many cars or such a big building in my life! I managed to run the heck outta there before being struck down for being a heathen.

Haiku

Six mile run done
Heavy miserableness
Nothing more to say

I Love Jon Baker

I am having a great morning. Despite sleeping for crap (there is a large umbrella in a stand on my landlord’s deck – which is what’s above my bedroom. In the gusty arctic winds, the stand wobbles back and forth. It makes barely a sound from topside as I discovered when exploring the environment at midnight while trying not to look like a prowler. But from below decks, sounds like someone is rolling a bowling ball around above my head.) and getting up at 5:45 am to venture into the tundra (ok…minor exaggeration), I am feeling energized (check in with me around 2pm) and inspired.

Because I love Jon Baker.

Jon Baker (I like to call him by either his whole name, or just Baker) is my personal trainer at the gym. And this morning I told him “I am so glad you were the one who answered the phone that day when I called!” Because, for the first time in MONTHS I feel inspired. And have the utmost confidence that I will get to a place where I feel strong again.

Baker told me to believe that I can achieve much more than I think I can, and not to have anxiety about the outcome. Just think of the gym as a room in my home that I just rennovated, painted and decorated. Just show up and enjoy.

We also talk about the biomechanics of things. Which I won’t go into detail about now. But, he gets that my knee bugs me because he has been there. He understands exactly what I need to work on, and more importantly, in what order I need to work on them. He listens to me when I tell him what I have already been through and what I want to acheive. And he explains why we do certain things and how they help prepare us for where we want to go.

He is also 36 or 37 and skateboards to work every day. How sweet is that?

Sometimes you meet just the right person at exactly the right time when you are finally ready to make the committment (it sounds like Im talking about a romantic relationship here, which Im not…though, similar ideas do apply). My birthday let me reflect on my both frustrating (no running) and completely awesome (I love Eldar the MOST!) year. And I have a pretty new Garmin GPS watch to track the journey to marathon 2009. Yay, toys!

I trained for and ran a marathon last year (in a pretty respectable time frame, too!). I can pretty much do anything. So, it’s time to buckle down and make the time.

I am finding that once AT the gym, I enjoy my time there. Jon Baker gives me really cool stuff to work on and it’s actually, dare I say, fun. It’s just getting myself there that I need to make happen. One day at a time.

In the meantime, I plan to text him when I can’t get up from my desk tomorrow due to the super cool sliding lunges we did today.